The upcoming Image Comics series Exquisite Corpses is about a small town beset by 12 unstoppable killers and the families who secretly run the world play a game to claim control of society through their own sociopathic methods. It’s a tremendous comic, one you can see greatness from now and immense possibilities from in the future. But being a great comic from top creators like writer James Tynion IV, artist Michael Walsh, colorist Jordie Bellaire, letterer Becca Carey, and an entire Corpse Crew of collaborators isn’t necessarily enough to stand out in the market these days.

That’s where Jazzlyn Stone comes in.

The Director of Communications at Tiny Onion and her crack marketing team worked with the marketing team at Image Comics to make this budding franchise feel as big as it is and could be, with a carefully crafted roll out designed to maximize awareness in and the impact of Exquisite Corpses. There’s a signing tour! Character and cover reveals! Cosplay guides! More! Stone’s doing what she can to ensure this comic hits and hits big, which is essential work in a market as competitive and noisy as this one.

It’s also very much up my alley, which is why I wanted to close out Exquisite Corpses Week on the site with a look at that side of the project. Stone and I recently popped on Zoom to talk about the big plans the Tiny Onion has, including how integrated marketing was into the planning from the start, how marketing works in comics, where comic shops fit in the plan, the process for figuring out answers, some of the plans the team has, how Tiny Onion’s infrastructure makes this possible, and a whole lot more. It’s a great chat about a big book and one of the most quietly important worlds in comics these days, and it’s one that’s been edited for length and clarity.

You told me that Exquisite Corpses is Tiny Onion’s big swing. Why do you say that?

Jazzlyn: It’s our first franchise that we’re producing as a company. It’s our first thing. We’ve taken on James (Tynion)’s books. We’re all working on those, and those are existing legacies. But this is the first one that is a completely new thing that we’ve all had our hands on. It’s us proving that our ideas work at all levels, right? Editorial, production, marketing, all of it. So, it’s a big swing.

Is part of the big swing that you were getting a chance to think more holistically on a project from the beginning? Because that’s one of the things I thought was interesting when I talked to James and Michael…there was that first summit that was James, Michael and the Tiny Onion team. Was marketing and promotion baked into the original discussion in a real way?

Jazzlyn: Yeah, I was fortunate in having my opinions allowed to be stated early on in small ways. That’s the way I’ve always preferred to do marketing, getting to be near the creative process early, but not to make changes- I think that’s always going to be creative and the editorial team’s place to shine. I never want to say things like, “Well, actually let’s add six characters.” I never want to overstep in that way. 

But there are small things where I can make requests that will help us in the long run.…I was asking Michael about the 13 families, “Are they going to have a logo? Is that something that I could use in the marketing?” And he was like, “Oh no, they’re very incognito. They’re not going to have any visuals.” And I was like, “Could they?” (laughs) So he mocked up a logo for the 13 families11 and it only comes up in one panel, but it will help.

There are lots of small things that he included in the art that will make my job easier for years to come. So, in that way, I was able to request things or bring notes up and luckily be respected and supported enough that it was seen as a boon and not overstepping. It wasn’t, “Shut up marketing. It’s not your time yet.”

The iconography part is interesting because if you have those elements, you can carry them as a marketing throughline, and that stuff is not, no offense to Michael, it’s not the type of thing he probably thinks about. But you think about that, and being able to get that in on step one means you have that going forward. I imagine that’s crucial.

Jazzlyn: Yeah. I’m very lucky. I was talking with some other marketing friends about the things that we’re doing on this book, and they were like, “Wow. Must be nice.”

Do you think marketing plans are sometimes figured out too late in the developmental cycle for comics?

Jazzlyn: Yes and no. I think that the creators that have a marketing background or a graphic design background, their books tend to be a bit easier to market because they’ve left breadcrumbs for me in the work. You’re creating the book, I have to get it in people’s hands. That’s the deal.

The life cycle of a comic is so long, and then you have compendiums and new readers finding it- like what we’re seeing with Invincible. There was a comic, then a TV show, then Mr. Beast tweeted about it, and now thousands of kids are finding the comic for the first time. The TV show is using cues from the comic’s marketing, making it an easier transition for new fans coming from the show and then reading the comics.

And I’m definitely looking at this from a bias, but when creators come from a marketing background,when they have an eye for it, I think that they can naturally lay things out a bit easier for those that come after them. Those breadcrumbs make it easier to carry over through the finish line. But it’s tricky. I don’t necessarily think that we should be thinking about how to sell a story…

Before it exists.

Jazzlyn: Yeah. Storytelling is so pure that I don’t want to say, “You need to be thinking about your audience.” That’s a dangerous place to create from. So, I think this is the best-case scenario where I can quietly just listen and make notes about what’s going to make my life easier later. But, yeah, I want creators to just make the stories that they want to tell and then let comms teams or marketing teams figure it out.

You want to be aware, but you don’t want to affect things.

Jazzlyn: Yeah. It’s a very delicate line to walk, but in the case I just gave, it was helpful to have that logo in the comic.

Absolutely. That’s the 13, right?

Jazzlyn: The 13 with the stars around it.

Where do comic shops fit in your overall plan? Is that where much of the focus lies?

Jazzlyn: Definitely. I think that my job and my team’s job is to talk to retailers. We were just at ComicsPRO 12 and we focused on Exquisite Corpses, You’ll Do Bad Things 13 and Department of Truth’s fifth anniversary coming up. Our goal is to make comic shops understand what makes these titles unique. 

First, we need to understand what makes these books cool. Second, we need to be able to share that with retailers and comic shops, then give them whatever they need to get their customers on board with it, because they are truly who we’re selling to. Kelly Sue DeConnick said that to me once. She said, as a marketing person, your customer is not necessarily the fans. Your customer is the retailers, and then they will get the fans on board. That really kind of changed the way I think about comics.

You can’t sell to customers at the shops unless the shops have it to begin with. Is that a big part of the reason why you went to ComicsPRO? Because the time I went, it was not a very heavily attended event from creators and creator-related entities. And it seemed like that Tiny Onion had a lot of people there.

Jazzlyn: We went for a few reasons. At the time, we hadn’t officially announced it yet, but Devin Funches has come on as our e-commerce and retail manager, and it was the first time he got to go out with the team and represent us. Having him at ComicsPRO was partially about reintroducing him to retailers.

We also wanted to get feedback from retailers about what’s working and what’s not. What do they need from us to make their jobs easier? Because again, we’re selling to them more than we’re selling to the fans.

And finally, to make sure they’re excited about Exquisite Corpses. I had this awful thought the night before. “What if we think we have something special, then we get there and no one gets it?” It was that old, night-before-a-big-test anxiety. “What if we completely misjudged this?” (laughs) But luckily, the first roundtable that we talked to got it immediately, “This is incredible. This is exciting. This is exactly what we’re looking for right now.” 

So, it’s been nice. (laughs)

Your life is made easier by having James and Michael. That’s a great business card to get your foot in the door. 

I do think Exquisite Corpses feels unusually big for a book. It feels like it’s a big deal. This is a funny comparison, but in Alaska, when you run into certain bears, you’re supposed to get big. I feel like Exquisite Corpses is Tiny Onion getting big. (Jazzlyn laughs)

Jazzlyn: Thank you for seeing us. (Jazzlyn laughs)

You mentioned one of the things you need to figure out is what retailers need to sell this. What is the process for figuring out the right answers? There are a lot of interesting answers already, some of which you’ve told me privately, some of which are already out there but also not formalized publicly. What are you building to solve that side of the equation?

Jazzlyn: One of the biggest things is…James does a lot of conventions. We work with Scott’s Collectibles, and he has a great relationship with them. But as somebody who grew up in Middle America, conventions are not always super accessible. It’s not easy to get out there. And we realized that just through happenstance, he was basically only visiting the coasts. One of the big things that we were getting asked a lot by retailers, was “Can James come to my comic shop in Middle America?”

Early on, while I was talking to James about how we’re going to promote Exquisite Corpses, he was like, “What if we do a signing tour?” I love signing tours. I’ve always wanted to design one. So, we dubbed it Corpse Tour ‘25. Walsh is designing a tour shirt, there will be a Q+A before each signing. It’s going to be a lot of fun, and allow James to spend more intentional time with fans. We’re trying to hit up more shops in the middle, and not just us going to conventions. It’s us going to shops that have really championed James from the jump, from way back in the day with The Woods or Memetic.

How are you figuring out the right shops?

Jazzlyn: It’s hard. (laughs) It’s comparing lists of who wants to work with us, where he has done signings before, who Image has suggested. We talked about it at ComicsPRO, so a lot of people reached out saying, “This is why you should come to my shop.” Thinking about places he’s been before that have gone really well or places he hasn’t visited in a while. It’s very stressful (laughs), and it’s basically me and Harley (Salbacka, Tiny Onion’s Community and Events Manager) and Devin with lots and lots of different sheets and sales data, and then a hope and a dream and just a big map of the States. He can’t go everywhere, but damn does he want to.

It’s really stressful. (laughs)

I imagine. Especially because everyone’s going to be like, “Why didn’t you pick me?” if you don’t pick them. Also, you probably can’t do what Matt Rosenberg and Tyler Boss are doing. Have you seen the plans for their trip?

Jazzlyn: I have, yeah.

It’s big. I messaged Matt and I was like, “You do realize that Seattle is like 180 miles away from Vancouver, Washington, and you’re doing a signing in both in the same day?” And he was like, “I have to do it.” That’s hardcore.

Jazzlyn: Yeah, it’s hardcore. But also, they were both in bands before. They know how to tour.

They’re used to it.

Jazzlyn: They’re used to it. I think it’s a bit of getting back into the muck for them. And also, if I lived in Vancouver, I would appreciate it. I grew up in Salt Lake, so we had a lot of great bands touring nearby, but it was always frustrating to see a band get really close, but not stop in Salt Lake, instead choosing to play in Las Vegas. Like, “What!? We’re here! You have fans! We know how to dance at a show!” If I lived in Vancouver, I too would be tired of everybody skipping Vancouver to come to Seattle.

You may know this. I’m a marketer by trade. My day job is at an advertising agency. And the funny thing is, as I was talking with James and Michael, I kept finding myself finding ways to connect the story to promotional materials. Do you find that Exquisite Corpses is an unusually fertile subject for marketing? Because it seems like it has a lot of lean in a way that might not be as easy for a lot of books.

Jazzlyn: I don’t think it’s unusually fertile. I think that comics are unusually fertile because it’s a visual medium. You have so much to choose from in terms of promotional art before a comic is even made. As an example, the amount of work that goes into just character design is extensive and exhausting. That stuff’s great for promotional material. So, I think that comics overall are really fertile for marketing. What I’m finding with Exquisite Corpses is that because I’ve been able to be a part of the creative process from its inception, I tend to just know it much more intimately.

But then, I guess if you don’t know it intimately and you’re still finding it fertile, then maybe I’m just taking it for granted.

I imagine if I know a little bit and can come up with things, I bet it’s just an idea factory for you.

One thing that I think is often forgotten when it comes to the marketing side of comics is remembering to engage with potential readers. That’s not to say Kelly Sue’s wrong. She isn’t. The end customer is comic shops. But once final order cutoff hits, like on April 21^st for this, comics often aren’t promoted again until the day it arrives, so you don’t really build that enthusiasm. What kind of plans do you have on that side to get readers to engage with the idea of the book and the ideas of its world?

Jazzlyn: Because we have 12 killers, every week, for 12 weeks, we’re unveiling a new one. Pretty straight forward, right? Last year, after New York Comic Con, this animator reached out to us after seeing our booth. His name is Hubz, and he is really talented and very sweet. He just sent me a cold email saying, “I don’t know if you ever need an animator, but if you do, I’d love to work with you. I’m just really inspired by what you guys are doing. Hit me up.” 

So here we are, planning out how to introduce the killers. We want to make sure that we give every killer the stage they deserve, because like the audience, we don’t know who’s going to win. So I remember Hubz, and I pitch an idea to the team. What if we animate the reveals? I had a meeting with Hubs, and he showed me the Dandadan intro. 14 I don’t know if you’re familiar with it. I was excited. This looks exactly like the way that Michael designed the killer reveals in the book. For each reveal, the art style changes drastically, it looks like an anime character intro. I don’t know anything about animation, so it was nice to see Hubs picking up on the little visual cues that Michael had left. They’re working together, but they’ve never met. I’m the in-between. 

The killers, the townsfolk. The characters and town. We’re very lucky that there’s so much beautiful art and story to work with. We have 60 pages, but don’t want to give too much away. Some things need to be kept a surprise for readers. It’s that line to walk where you don’t want to tell too much, but also, man the killers are cool.

I don’t know how we’re going to beat them in season two. I know that Michael will, but when we do our new batch of killers, it’ll be tough. These ones are really fucking cool.

They are very cool. I was very surprised by G4M3R_Kid. I was also surprised to find out that it was the very first character that was created, but you never know how things like that will work out.

Jazzlyn: Michael designed some fucked up shit. (laughs) Did I tell you, I was on the plane headed to ComicsPRO when I read our latest draft before we sent out the PDF, and I had to turn my screen because it was so gory.

That makes sense. It’s the book you’re dealing with. It’s a great book, but at the same time there are some pretty intense things! I’m sure you read The Silver Coin too. That has some intense stuff in it.

Jazzlyn: I know. And he’s so sweet.

I know.

Jazzlyn: And then his art is so dark!